Thursday, April 12, 2012

Chaos War: Incredible Hulks

Hmm. I’m sort of torn on this trade because while I appreciate Greg Pak bringing in Marlo, Doc Samson, and more supporting Hulk characters, I think he really loses focus because of the Chaos War crossover. Chaos War in general never exactly made sense to me, and the confused nature of that series spills over here. I never quite understood the rules for resurrections, who is controlling who, and how much freewill the resurrectees actually have. That can lead to some real oddness in books that lean heavily on the concept like this one. The epilogue to the story is a rushed battle on New Olympus that doesn’t help matters. The Hulk vs. Zeus might seem like a cool fight, but it just doesn’t work for me. (I do like the designs for the new pantheon of gods, though!)

Marlo has been a forgotten character for the past few years, so I’m really excited to see her getting some panel time. It’s also neat that she and Rick seem to be married still. (Being married to A-Bomb must be worse than dating the Hulk, wouldn’t you think?) Pak once again draws on good, classic stories when he references Marlo’s ties to Death (the Marvel entity). It makes sense.

As for the resurrected characters, boy, do I wish they could stick around. Zom comes back, taking over Dr. Strange, but he’s backed up by the Abomination. I LOVE Emil Blonsky, he’s such a visually striking character, I really wish he could have stuck around. I mean, he’s fighting like 6 Hulks in this story and he never seems out of his element, and his history ties in so nicely to the rest of the Hulk universe!

Doc Samson gets a little return too, and boy, I’m bummed that guy is gone. I loved John Byrne’s take on him back in the day, and I’ve had a fondness for him ever since. Surely he deserves better than to stay dead from a nonsensical Jeph Loeb plot?

I’m also worried that I’m starting to like Betty Ross as Red She-Hulk more than Jennifer Walters. Jen has been relegated to the background for too long, and Red She-Hulk’s craziness makes her awfully likeable. Who doesn’t want to see some reckless brick smashing everything around her?

And who does smashing better than Paul Pelletier? From a purely artistic standpoint, this thing is a pleasure. Pelletier draws some of the best Hulks I’ve ever seen, and his facial expressions on Hulk are wonderful. He also loves drawing his heroes puking after getting big hits, a wonderful habit! I would have liked to see Jennifer Walters get a bit more exposure, I’m sure he would have nailed it!